Needle-free device measures blood sugar
CNN Website:- http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/05/07/diabetes.sugar.reut/index.html
It never ceases to amaze me just what technology can do these days. Hong Kong scientists have managed to develop a device that measures one's blood sugar level without having to prick a finger to obtain blood. Diabetic patients now can easily measure their blood sugar level without having to subject themselves to any pain or difficulty.
What difficulty you might ask? Many people have the opinion that only downside of the current technic of measuring blood sugar level, that is using a magnetic strip to absorb a blood specimen from a pricked finger, is that it hurts. Many do not realise that there is a large number of senior citizens out there who have difficulty taking their blood sugar level because they are too slow to take the blood specimen using the magnetic strip. Some even take the blood specimen on the wrong side of the strip and stick it into the device, obtaining a false reading. But now thanks to this new innovation, senior diabetic patients can now easily obtain their blood sugar levels with up to 85% efficiency and accuracy.
The scientists responsible for this latest innovation went on to add that they are looking forward to the day medical treatments and tests can be administered without pain and that is looking to be a very possible thing. Just recently, the Singapore Dental Association introduced a new form of anaesthesia that does not require the injection of anaesthetics into one's gums, saving the patient from the painful sensation of having a needle in one's gums. Maybe someday in the distant future, one might be able to extract blood for tests or simply blood donation without having to feel any pain inserting a needle would bring. That would greatly boost the blood bank's efforts to obtain blood from more donors who stay away from such donation drives due to the fear of needles.
What difficulty you might ask? Many people have the opinion that only downside of the current technic of measuring blood sugar level, that is using a magnetic strip to absorb a blood specimen from a pricked finger, is that it hurts. Many do not realise that there is a large number of senior citizens out there who have difficulty taking their blood sugar level because they are too slow to take the blood specimen using the magnetic strip. Some even take the blood specimen on the wrong side of the strip and stick it into the device, obtaining a false reading. But now thanks to this new innovation, senior diabetic patients can now easily obtain their blood sugar levels with up to 85% efficiency and accuracy.
The scientists responsible for this latest innovation went on to add that they are looking forward to the day medical treatments and tests can be administered without pain and that is looking to be a very possible thing. Just recently, the Singapore Dental Association introduced a new form of anaesthesia that does not require the injection of anaesthetics into one's gums, saving the patient from the painful sensation of having a needle in one's gums. Maybe someday in the distant future, one might be able to extract blood for tests or simply blood donation without having to feel any pain inserting a needle would bring. That would greatly boost the blood bank's efforts to obtain blood from more donors who stay away from such donation drives due to the fear of needles.
posted by Clarence Tan @ 11:17 PM
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